Saddam's weapons came in through Syrian backdoor

A host of companies around the world provided military equipment to Iraq in the run-up to war, sending it mainly through Syria, documents discovered in Baghdad say.

The files, which include signed contracts, shipping manifests and minutes of meetings, appear to show that a Damascus company run by a relative of the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, was at the centre of the trade.

The documents were found in the abandoned office of al-Bashair Trading Company by a reporter for the German magazine Stern, shortly after US troops entered the capital.

Although al-Bashair was ostensibly an import-export business, it had been identified by the United Nations as the biggest of 13 companies used by Saddam Hussein's regime to evade international sanctions.

Details of Iraq's weapons purchases emerged this week when the Los Angeles Times published the results of a three-month investigation sparked by the discovery of the papers.

The report comes at a sensitive time in relations between Iraq and Syria. Last month US President George Bush approved sanctions against Syria for its alleged ties to terrorists. Washington has also been pressing Syria to seal its border with Iraq to stop the infiltration of militants.

The Times said that between 2002 and early 2003 Syria became the main conduit for illicit weapons deals, after a crackdown in Jordan, which had previously been Iraq's chief source of smuggled arms.

It reported the Syrian company SES International Corporation had played a pivotal role. "Iraqi records show that SES signed more than 50 contracts to supply tens of millions of dollars' worth of arms and equipment to Iraq's military shortly before the US-led invasion in March," it said.

The deals are said to include supplying 1000 heavy machine-guns and up to 20 million rounds for assault rifles.

"Syria's government assisted SES in importing at least one shipment destined for Iraq's military, the Iraqi documents indicate, and Western intelligence reports allege that senior Syrian officials were involved in other illicit transfers," the paper said.

The investigation is likely to embarrass Poland and South Korea, both US allies. Before the war a Polish company, Evax, signed four contracts with Iraq and delivered about 380 engines for surface-to-air missiles to Baghdad through Syria.

A South Korean company, Armitel, sent telecommunications equipment worth $US8 million ($10.6 million) for what the documents said was air defence, the paper reported.

It is unclear whether SES was acting with the approval of the President, but analysts have said it was unlikely that the deals could have gone ahead without the Government's involvement.